Christopher Fama

Excellence in Online Teaching

CHEP Status: Active

CHEP Since: 04/24/2019

Badge Evidence

CM251Students with Disabilities: Legal Obligations and Opportunities

This course provides faculty, staff, and administrators with an understanding of the legal mandates regarding equal access for students with disability. More importantly, it provides a practical framework to help institutional personnel know what to say and do in the context of their defined role and interactions with students with disabilities. Topics include the civil rights nature of applicable Federal law, definitional issues, the impact of disability on traditional education activities and pursuits, reasonable accommodations, and the unique responsibilities of faculty, staff, and administrators as prescribed by their position.

EL101Designing and Developing Online Courses

This introductory course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to create successful online courses, whether for faculty-supported distance education delivery or as a supplement to classroom instruction. You will learn to design and develop online courses that have structural integrity and navigational simplicity with a focus on student-centered learning and intellectual interaction. The course covers various learning activities that are supported in an e-learning environment and describes the typical components of an online course. We will provide you with the media strategies and course design methodologies that will allow you to develop online courses in an effective and efficient manner.

EL102Online Teaching Techniques

Your degree of success as an online instructor relies heavily on several factors, among which are your level of preparedness before the date on which the course is launched; your ability to make a smooth transition into the roles and responsibilities associated with teaching in an online environment; and the effectiveness and efficiency with which you manage learners, instructional transactions embedded in the course as well as the learning environment. In this course, you will learn how to project your authority and presence into the e-learning environment, build a relationship with each learner, promote and nurture learner participation, provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner, minimize attrition, manage communications, manage unacceptable behavior and resolve disagreements.

EL103Teaching Online: A Student-Centered Approach

This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to author, teach, assess, and revise successful online courses. You will learn to develop a course framework with consistent modules. Constructing an online community and a dynamic syllabus are important in helping you communicate with students. You will also learn how to develop an assessment plan including self- and peer-assessment as you progress through the course. No online course is complete without a comprehensive revision cycle. This course will walk you through the process of "closing the loop" to create a complete revision and improvement plan for your online course. We will provide you with ideas for student-centered learning, with activities and intellectual interactions using a variety of technology tools.

EL105Online Language: Communicating with Students

This course will provide you with knowledge to effectively communicate with students and encourage communication among students in an online environment. You will learn the importance of facilitating instructor-to-student (I2S), student-to-instructor (S2I), and student-to-student (S2S) communication. Technology tools play a vital role in the communication process and several are discussed in this course. A discussion is also provided to help you further understand how to manage and measure communication in an online course and help students communicate effectively.

EL108Preparing Students to Become Good Online Learners

This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help prepare students for the online environment. To do so, you must also assess your strengths and weaknesses as an online instructor. As you help students assess their readiness for online learning, you are also preparing them for the expectations and realities of the online environment. By identifying students' strengths and weaknesses, you can provide guidance to help them achieve learning outcomes. This course not only notes the technical skills necessary, it also discusses non-technical skills as well as techniques for successful learning and helping students develop their online persona.

EL112Workload Management Strategies for Teaching Online

This course will provide you with strategies and techniques to help you reduce your workload in the online environment. The course begins with an overview of good principles for education and questions to consider prior to developing Workload Management Strategies (WLMS). This course also provides WLMS for teaching online, communicating and collaborating, and revising your online course.

EL113Active Learning in an Online Environment

This course will provide you with a basic overview of the background and history of the popular instructional method called active learning. This method differs greatly from traditional educational methods such as the lecture model. Active learning has a definite place in education especially in the online learning environments. It is used to support teaching outcomes like critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills and knowledge acquisition that all instructors wish for their students. There are some problems with the method, in that it calls for a change of attitude on the part of students and the instructor in order to be successful. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages as it can make students enthusiastic about learning. Come learn about this brave new world of teaching and learning for the 21st century!

EL114Respecting Copyrights and Leveraging Available Resources

This course provides a basic overview of the background and history of the usage of copyrighted materials in U.S. education. Copyright usage is an often-misunderstood area of education. This course will help build an awareness of the U.S. Copyright Law and its various components. Instructors will be given practical examples on how to correctly use copyrighted materials in their classrooms. In the 21st century, many students do not recognize common concepts such as pirating of music and videos. Instructors are on the frontline in education and can educate newer generations on the ideas of fair use, intellectual property, and piracy issues.

This course will provide you with an overview of online instructors’ and learners’ personality traits. Participants will be provided with information about the traits themselves, as well as how to identify such traits, utilize them, and develop lessons to reach all students.

EL118Using Various “Realities” in Online Courses

This course will provide you with an overview of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). With the advancements that have been made in providing reality-based instruction, this course will help instructors to stay current with the latest developments in the different types of realities that are available as instructional supports. This course will provide working definitions for each of the realities, and information pertaining to various components of teaching online using these realities. Benefits, challenges, and best practices will also be discussed. Real-life applications of VR, AR, and MR, along with various equipment that may be utilized, are provided.

EL201Online Communication: Engaging and Retaining Online Learners

Research shows that supportive working relationships between students and institutional personnel are vital to student retention. For online students, these relationships are especially essential in preventing a sense of isolation and detachment from their academic experience. Because interactions with online students are most likely to occur via phone and email, developing retention-supporting relationships can be challenging. This course teaches online communication strategies that foster connection and engagement with online learners. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of (a) retention and attrition research, (b) online learning, and (c) technology’s unique role in both the relationship-building process and the online student experience.

CHEP in Teaching

Competency Standards

1Develop Organized Course Plans

1.1 Collaborate with all Stakeholders to Identify Goals and Objectives